kitchens + cookbooks – and a recipe.

i’m an avid reader, but i don’t think i’ve ever sat down and read a cookbook from cover to cover – that is, until heidi swanson’s wonderful super natural cooking arrived at my house last week. not only is the book beautifully written and a gorgeous compilation of colorful photographs, it’s also incredibly informative and it’s slowly changing the way i think about food – in spite of trying to eat as “clean” as possible, i still ingest an awful lot of processed junk (hello, 10 p.m. reese’s peanut butter cup) and refined white stuff. while i know i’m never going to be able to completely change that, i am now on a mission to make a concerted effort to try a little harder. i’m sure i’ll be referencing heidi’s book often; as my passion for cooking grows, so does my desire to try new recipes and, i kid you not, every single recipe in super natural cooking looks fantastic.

in addition to super natural cooking, i was also excited to score some new kitchen utensils via a press package my coworker received last week. nothing exciting, just a pretty white slotted spoon and pasta server with an aqua-colored handle and an aqua silicone whisk, as well as some cheerful, colorful measuring spoons. the stuff i had before was ugly and black, so this is a nice change – and it looks perfect in my egg-shaped ikea asker container. i also recently bought two nice wood cutting boards with rubber grippers on the bottom – one big, one small – and i am loving actually being able to chop like a normal person again. (full disclosure: after throwing out an old cutting board, i was cutting things on paper towels for awhile. …i know. feel free to make fun of me.)

anyway, since today is monday and my favorite day of the week to think about food and recipes, here’s a great one from whole foods that i think is especially appropriate on this chilly april day: spiced hot chocolate with orange. it’s supposed to be in the low 50s tonight, which is cold for southwest florida, and i would love to curl up on my couch a cup of this, my current book (the secret lives of people in love, simon van booy’s collection of short stories) and oscar. (photo via wholefoods.com; i am loving those mugs.)

and one last note: this post’s opening photo is what i wish my own kitchen looked like – maybe it will some day! it’s the kitchen of drew barrymore’s offices, which were featured in the april issue of domino magazine. beautiful.